Southeast Asia trails in pay-TV regulation: CASBAA

Compiled by the industry body CASBAA, the latest, and third, ‘Regulating for Growth’ study ranks the region’s regulators according to the effectiveness of their measures in encouraging pay-TV growth and stimulating economic activity.

In Asia-Pacific overall, New Zealand and Hong Kong, topped the regulatory regime index, with Japan, Australia and Malaysia running closely behind.

Findings show that the best-regulated markets use a ‘light touch,’ creating an open environment that fosters active competition. But even in ‘light-touch’ regulatory environments there are found to be weaknesses, such as trade barriers confronting advertising (Malaysia).

Mid-table comes Singapore, which, the report says, has suffered in the rankings because of its controversial decision to implement a ‘cross-carriage’ system mandating restrictions on content owners’ use of their programming. “The most pernicious aspect of the new regime was its extension to cover all forms of TV programming, rather than any areas where specific competition problems could be identified.”

Most of the industry’s regulatory challenges in Indonesia, says the study, relate to uncertainty, “From restrictive regulations remaining in the statute books, to the prospect of revised broadcasting and new convergence legislation, to the potential for corruption to interfere with legitimate commercial activity."

Pay-TV in the Philippines and Thailand continues to be severely hampered by signal piracy, stemming from lax protection of intellectual property in broadcasting. “The legal/legislative environments in several markets such as the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan lack effective copyright enforcement regimes to deal with the more traditional forms of infringement and signal theft, let alone the relatively more recent development of online piracy.”

And while describing Vietnam as having one of the most rapidly-developing pay-TV markets in East Asia, the reports asks, “Whether the industry can fulfill its potential to contribute fully to Vietnam’s economic and technological development will depend on how flexibly the government oversees the transition to the new regulations.”

The assessment examined 15 markets in Asia and Australasia, plus two international ‘benchmarks’ (UK and US), chosen for their active and successful pay-TV industries and generally well-regarded regulatory systems. In the analysis industry revenue and investment data is presented, and evaluated on a ‘per pay-TV household’ basis to make possible working comparisons across markets of vastly different sizes.